I just ordered mine with some other stuff HC. Do I need to download anything to update the firmware or will it be good to go from the box? Also, does it come with the logview or do I need to download that as well?

I believe that is in reference to the fact that you can only balance 10 cells, but are charging 10 in series.

I hope Junsi is still reading this thread, I think I need to report a fault.

According to the manual R:xx is the number of cells detected by the charger and S:xx is the number of cells set by the user. This is strange as I definately have 12 cells (I'm using 3 x 4 cell packs in series). So the charger has auto-detected too few cells.

The manual says if the number of cells auto-detected differs from the correct number, check to make sure the selected number is correct for your battery pack and if so, press start / enter. So I did.

BAD NEWS....................................!!

About 30 mins later, having charged the pack up to around 1800mAh (ie. close to the end of the charge) there was a PSSSTTT sound and smoke started coming out the charger! Of course I quickly disconnected everything but my charger has that lingering smell of burnt electronics and now it will not charge anything. The screen shows "Low voltage" each time you hit enter to try and start a charge.

I think this charger is dead and I would recommend that anyone who has upgraded to 3.09 firmware does not try to charge 12S A123 packs until this is checked out to see if it's a firmware bug or just a problem with my charger.

Does anyone know what the warranty procedure is? I bought from Hobbyking in Hong Kong. Should I be contacting them or Junsi direct?

I don't anticipate needing the lager cell count battery capability that the 1010B affords. Therefore the 106B seems the more appropriate one for me. Are there any other reasons I should consider the 1010B that I might be better off with?

Don

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mighty Manfred

Boy, that's a timely question, Don!

Also, are there any "newer" engineering changes in the 106B versus the 1010B?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mighty Manfred

Anybody?

I'll take a shot at this Don and Mighty Manfred:

If you don't plan on EVER needing to go past 6S, then the 106B+ is the ticket. For a more future-proof purchase, or if you intend to go to larger packs in the future, then the 1010B+ is the way to go.

IAccording to the manual R:xx is the number of cells detected by the charger and S:xx is the number of cells set by the user. This is strange as I definately have 12 cells (I'm using 3 x 4 cell packs in series). So the charger has auto-detected too few cells.

The manual says if the number of cells auto-detected differs from the correct number, check to make sure the selected number is correct for your battery pack and if so, press start / enter. So I did. ...

About 30 mins later, having charged the pack up to around 1800mAh (ie. close to the end of the charge) there was a PSSSTTT sound and smoke started coming out the charger! Of course I quickly disconnected everything but my charger has that lingering smell of burnt electronics and now it will not charge anything. The screen shows "Low voltage" each time you hit enter to try and start a charge. ...

To aid in troubleshooting, can you share a few details? Specifically:

- What type of power supply are you using and what is the set voltage?
- What was the set charge rate and were using the default termination voltage for LiFe (3.60V)?
- What was the total voltage of your pack, prior to charging, and were any balance leads connected?

I just ordered mine with some other stuff HC. Do I need to download anything to update the firmware or will it be good to go from the box? Also, does it come with the logview or do I need to download that as well?

They should could updated with the latest firmware, v3.09, which is displayed immediately at start-up. All chargers I ship are updated prior to shipment with the latest firmware. If you receive a model with older firmware the latest revision can be downloaded from a link at the first page of this thread.

You should download and install the latest version of LogView, version 2.4 which is freeware, from here:

According to the manual R:xx is the number of cells detected by the charger and S:xx is the number of cells set by the user. This is strange as I definately have 12 cells (I'm using 3 x 4 cell packs in series). So the charger has auto-detected too few cells.

The manual says if the number of cells auto-detected differs from the correct number, check to make sure the selected number is correct for your battery pack and if so, press start / enter. So I did.

The cell count is the series cell count only. Did you have 12 cells in series? edit: never mind, I read too fast, you did.

- What type of power supply are you using and what is the set voltage?
- What was the set charge rate and were using the default termination voltage for LiFe (3.60V)?
- What was the total voltage of your pack, prior to charging, and were any balance leads connected?

-David

Power supply is a lead acid 12V car battery. Note, the message re. low voltage doesn't refer to low input voltage (that's a different message), it's when the charger checks the voltage of the pack at the start of charging that the error comes up. If I had to guess I'd say that whatever's happened in the charger means it is seeing an open circuit on its output.

The charge rate I was using into my 12S A123 pack was 2.0A and yes the termination voltage is the LiFE default of 3.6V

I have no idea of the pack voltage prior to charging as I didn't measure it, however I can guesstimate it based on the fact that all cells were balance charged before flight and I only took 2000mAh out of them. Given the discharge curve of an A123 I think the pack voltage before charging would have been around 39V but that's supposition on my part.

Update, I just unplugged the charger and went to pack it up to send back to Hobbyking tomorrow (I need a replacement soonest so I can go flying again!). There is something very small rattling around inside the charger, perhaps part of some semiconductor which has grenaded itself. It has that small plastic / ceramic rattle to it.

I've updated the firmware of my iCharger 1010B+ to 3.09 and when I try to charge 12S A123 packs at 2A the LCD readout says "LiFE 2.0A R10 S12".

What is R and S in this context and why is the readout for R = 10? The pack I'm connecting to definately has 12 cells.

"R" is the number of cells calculated by the charger based on the sensed pack voltage. "S" is the number of cells you have configured to be charged. If these differ the charger warns you in case you have mis-configured it. I always get this warning when charging my 7S A123 packs since it always sees them as 6S. There is nothing wrong with the sensing algorithm, a discharged pack can have the same voltage as a fully charged lower-S pack and the charger has no way to tell, so for safety must always get confirmation before continuing.

I am sorry to hear that your charger failed but I don't think it was related to the warning message. I have never charged more than 10S on mine so cannot say for sure that charging 12S A123 is reliable but I would expect that Junsi have tested it well and that you simply were unlucky.

I am planning on buying a 1010B+ very soon and have a question. What is the CV voltage for A123 cells and is it adjustable by the user? My Hyperion 0610i net charges to 3.6V but I believe 3.7V would be a better voltage. Could an A123 user (Julez perhaps?) comment if 3.6V or 3.7V is the "correct" voltage?

The cutoff voltage is adjustable for each LiXx chemistry. The default for LiFe is 3.60V since this is what is specified for A123 cells by their manufacturer and is fairly common for LiFe in general.

Folks doing high-rate charging, especially zip-charging, have found that terminating the charge (note, not going to CV mode, but stopping altogether) at about 3.75V/cell tends to result in a well charged, well balanced pack.

For my A123 packs I normally use the Fast Charge setting at 10A with a cutoff of 3.75V/cell and it seems to work well for me.

If you plan to balance charge A123 packs regularly I suggest setting the balance mode to "CV onyl" and sticking with 3.60V/cell since you will be relying on the charger to do the balancing and don't need to user over-voltage charging to achieve it.

Update, I just unplugged the charger and went to pack it up to send back to Hobbyking tomorrow (I need a replacement soonest so I can go flying again!). There is something very small rattling around inside the charger, perhaps part of some semiconductor which has grenaded itself. It has that small plastic / ceramic rattle to it.

Hi,

I would ask Junsi before sending it to HobbyKing. HobbyKing has a very, very bad record about Waranty-Service. If you need it fast, HobbyKing is no option.

If you buy from UH/HC/HK you have no option but to work with them on any warranty issues, it is the vendor's responsibility not the manufacturer's to deal with individual retail warranty claims. The prices are very cheap at UH/HC/HK but you take the risk of what can be a difficult, slow and unsatisfying warranty process. If you are in a hurry for a working replacement charger I suggest you buy one from progressiverc.com and you can always sell the warranty replacement unit if-and-or when you get it.